Principal of Davidson Middle School in San Rafael receives national award

Principal Harriet Mac-Lean, who is credited with turning around San Rafael's Davidson Middle School since she was hired in 2008, has been recognized for her work with a national award.

MacLean received the Women in School Leadership Award from the American Association of School Administrators at a conference in Los Angeles last week. The award is given to one principal and one superintendent, or similar administrators, each year.

"When she arrived the school began a turnaround process," San Rafael City Schools Superintendent Michael Watenpaugh said of MacLean. "We've had a return of students from private school. We've had students starting at Davidson (whose) families were planning never to send them to Davidson."

After MacLean arrived, Davidson underwent changes including an end to the separation of students by course level — a practice known as "tracking" — and an overhaul of the discipline system.

From 2009 to 2012 the school's academic performance index jumped 81 points from 748 to 829, with bigger increases among subgroups such as Latinos, poor students, English learners and special education students. The number of suspensions dropped from 375 to 45, and this year's number is on pace to be much lower.

"She knew from the beginning there was nothing wrong with the kids, there was nothing wrong with the staff," Watenpaugh said. "They just needed professional development to learn to work with a more diverse population of kids, and the kids needed to be provided with a more rigorous instructional program that has higher expectations."

MacLean said the gains at Davidson were the result of a schoolwide effort. She said teachers and staff worked in teams focused on different aspects of the school's overhaul.

"The teachers, the other staff at Davidson, community members, parents were so capable, so knowledgeable, so ready to be led in the right direction," she said.